10 Dec #4 The wonderful feeling of Culture Shocks

December is here, for all the J1 students the last month at San Francisco State University.

Final exams coming up next week, last classes, many hours of studying. Almost no time to realize that it is going to be over soon, maybe you are already going home before Christmas. Time is flying when you are having fun..

I will hopefully be staying in the Bay Area for a little bit longer, so no going back home – culture shock for me yet. I have experienced one of those before, so if you feel like preparing yourself for what is going to come, I can share my experience with you.

In 2010 I have been travelling to a couple of different places: starting in England and Switzerland, afterwords India and Sri Lanka. All of them totally different lifestyles, cultures, experiences. All of them great, and everytime I needed my time to adapt again, to adjust to the new culture, values and ways of living. I liked it, I loved it. I guess I am getting quite good at it: I notice that I am always seeking for new experiences that will give me more understanding of the world we are living in.

While mentally preparing for India and Sri Lanka, many people warned me for the culture shock I was going to experience. So many differences, nothing is like back home (the Netherlands). I saw the point they were making, of course: India is 180 degrees opposite from what you are used to, so no comfort zone whatsoever, letting go of your control is necessary in order to survive all the crazyness your senses are experiencing. But for me, the culture shock landed like a huge bomb when I arrived back home. I didn’t understand anything that was happening around me: why is everybody buying so many things they don’t really need? Why is everybody drinking beer while they can also spend that money by giving something useful to someone that doesn’t have that much money? Why are we all working so hard without really being happy? And the biggest one: how can this world be so incredibly unequal, how did I earn my fortune and wealth that I was born in??!

Everything around me was one big question and it didn’t feel comfortable at all. Even more, it took me at least half a year to buy something again without feeling guilty.

I do realize that India is a whole different story than the beautiful city of San Francisco, where inequality and poverty do also exist but still on a totally different scale than in India. But I can tell you that you will probably experience some question marks around the life style you have always been taking for granted, around the place where you were born and about the way your parents raised you. Or about your friends, why are they actually your friends? In my opinion, embracing all these questions is your answer: it is great to find yourself outside of your comfort zone and question everything that used to be normal to you. Being critical is the way to be fully aware of your life. So embrace those awkward feelings of questions and disbalance for as long as possible! Your life is too short to live a boring routine all the time!